[OT] Storing Minis

I am starting to get a fair collection of painted lead, 151mm, 6mm, and FT
ships. I'm looking for ways to organize and store them (so I have room
for...more lead). My thought at the moment is to put them in videotape boxes
with some kind of padding, but I'm curious what

Wow, 151mm?!?!?! Those must be impressive!:). If you just want to store them
(and aren't worried about displaying) there are several
choices.  I frequently use Doskocil pistol cases ($11 at K-Mart or
Wal-Mart, also available at Sports Authority).  These are great for all
types of minis, and would be perfect for 6mm. If you want a more expensive
option, there are several manufacturers that produce mini
cases based upon tackle boxes with die-cut foam for individual minis.
One such vendor is Camelot Pewter, you should be able to find them with a web
search, if not let me know and I can give you the contact info. They are a bit
pricey though, but the quality is pretty good and they store a lot of figs.
The other option is to go to a place in your town that does foam cutting (I'm
going to investigate this one myself) and get your own tackle boxes and have
the place cut the inserts to fit.

> At 07:45 PM 11/9/01 -0500, you wrote:

I use Chessex boxes -- now sold by Alliance.  They hold about 80 25mm
figures, they are durable as heck, and they transport nicely. In fact, a
friend of mine lost most of his gaming material to a fire, and his chessex
boxes were somewhat melted...but the figures inside (plastic GM space marines)
came through completely undamaged. Okay, the white shoulderpads were a little
browned by the heat...but it looked GOOD that way.

I know that a lot of folks use gun cases, but I've heard a fair number of
stories about these cases being stolen out of locked cars by people who thihk
that they are getting a gun.

> On 9-Nov-01 at 19:52, Laserlight (laserlight@quixnet.net) wrote:

Fishing tackle boxes with foam. Of course I packed minis on a motorcycle for
awhile so I'm paranoid.

I base all my mini with a thin magnet on the bottom. You can get round
1"
self adhesive magnets at hobby stores. Then I store all the lead in metal tool
boxes, the kind with drawers. It's great, because you've got a carrying
handle, and the minis stay upright. Eric

> I am starting to get a fair collection of painted lead, 151mm, 6mm,

Metal tool boxes from WalMart/K-Mart for $15 and magnets on the bottom
of my 25mm minis. Nothing more durable than an all steel tool box and the
magnets I use are 99 cents a sheet and that covers about a dozen bases.

I personally, don't like the foam/padded boxes.  With these options your

minis still can 'rattle' around inside the foam or are 'pressed' between two
layers to prevent movement. With magnets you can completely immobilize them.

G'day,

> My thought at the moment is to put them

OK that's a new one! The options we've seen/used include:

Tackle boxes Tool boxes Egg boxes (not the cartons, but big flat boxes) Baby
wipe containers (think plastic tissue boxes) Sewing boxes
Vanity cases - though that could take a bit of explaining in some spots
;)

We don't usually use sheet foam to pack but either mount on magnetic bases
or use the kind of foam beans/nuts you get in bean bags (or free from
bookshops who have excess as its comes around their book orders).

All these options work well.

Cheers

What I've been doing for 10 and 15mm minatures (Warmaster and DBM only so
far.. next will be 6mm microarmour) is to use stick on magnetic sheet on the
base, with sheets of 0.5mm colourbond sheet (scrap) double sided acrylic taped
into the bottom of manilla folder boxes

Works a treat so far.

[quoted original message omitted]

> At 07:45 PM 11/9/01 -0500, you wrote:

At the risk of being burned or stoned for heresy, I'm actually going to
RECOMMEND a GW/Evil Empire product!  ;-)

Their large briefcase-style figure cases are very useful, and I use
several for my own collection; they've done three different designs over the
years,
but the latest are the best - three layers of figures neatly protected
by
individual foam cavities sized for 25/28mm, but you can cut several
cavities into one for larger items - and the cases are deep enough for
big FT ships if you modify the foam accordingly. Apart from the big GW logo
moulded into the lid, they're really nice!

I don't know what they sell for in the US, but over here I only buy them when
our local GW has one of it's 20% sale days, which makes them almost
reasonable.....

> At 07:45 PM 11/9/01 -0500, you wrote:

At the risk of being burned or stoned for heresy, I'm actually going to
RECOMMEND a GW/Evil Empire product!  ;-)

Their large briefcase-style figure cases are very useful, and I use
several for my own collection; they've done three different designs over the
years,
but the latest are the best - three layers of figures neatly protected
by
individual foam cavities sized for 25/28mm, but you can cut several
cavities into one for larger items - and the cases are deep enough for
big FT ships if you modify the foam accordingly. Apart from the big GW logo
moulded into the lid, they're really nice!

I don't know what they sell for in the US, but over here I only buy them when
our local GW has one of it's 20% sale days, which makes them almost
reasonable.....

I got a Sabol Army Transport for Father's day and I really like it. Better
than most gun cases that I've used, and holds a load of stuff. Mine is
currently holding about 210 Clan War minis (28mm on 1" bases) and it's not
full. For true 25's (SG) or microarmor you could hold probably double what
I can for Clan War.   The only complaint I have about them is that they
are
soft-sided and therefore have little impact protection.  A little sheet
metal work could fix that though.

IIRC my wife got mine at www.thewarstore.com.

Bill

*************Reply Separator*****************

"Laserlight"

<laserlight@quixnet.net> To:
<gzg-l@CSUA.Berkeley.EDU>
Sent by: cc:

                    owner-gzg-l@lists.CSUA.Be       Subject:     [OT]
Storing Minis rkeley.EDU

                    11/09/01 06:45 PM

                    Please respond to gzg-l

I am starting to get a fair collection of painted lead, 151mm, 6mm, and FT
ships. I'm looking for ways to organize and store them (so I have room
for...more lead). My thought at the moment is to put them in videotape boxes
with some kind of padding, but I'm curious what other listers do?

> [quoted text omitted]
Date: Fri, 9 Nov 2001 19:45:02 -0500
From: "Laserlight" <laserlight@quixnet.net>
Subject: [OT] Storing Minis

I am starting to get a fair collection of painted lead, 151mm, 6mm, and FT
ships. I'm looking for ways to organize and store them (so I have room
for...more lead). My thought at the moment is to put them in videotape boxes
with some kind of padding, but I'm curious what other listers do?
<<<<<<<<<<

mount figs on metal bases and store in box with magnetic sheet glued to
bottom. figs can survive bouncy car trips, kids, etc.

Dave

> At 7:45 PM -0500 11/9/01, Laserlight wrote:

I use computer part boxes. Usually they are smallish and have a low profile
with foam inside. Some figs are stored in Chessex cases. Both work equally
well depending on the the figure.

> On Sunday, November 11, 2001, at 04:15 AM, Ground Zero Games wrote:

> At 07:45 PM 11/9/01 -0500, you wrote:

First I'll preface what I'm about to add to this discuss with the fact that my
storage method is not intended to suffice for long trips, those more that a
simple drive in a car.

I'm another of those that uses magnets attached to the bottom of my figure
bases for everything except my FT related figures (those are kept

in GW/gun cases).  The figures or figure stands (for 15mm stuff) are
stored on 19" x 12" cookie baking sheets that happen to fit snugly in 19" x
12" x 3" top opening mailer boxes. The figures survive short simple transport
well, but not being turned sideways for severe jarring. What I really like
about this set up is I can remove the cookie sheets for packing and unpacking
figures on the game table and the top opening boxes make is quick and simple
to see what's where with minimal fuss. I also keep a number of the Cheesex
foam boxes around in case I'm planning longer trips or those that might
involve rougher
treatment or needing to turn/bump the transporting boxes a lot.

I don't have any ship minis yet...but I did manage to buy a large number of
Galoob micromachine starwars figures. (I glued these figures to plastic
disks.)

I store mine in simple plasic ziplock baggies. Each type to it's own bag. All
of the bags just piled into a corrigated cardboard box.

Couldn't be simpler.  :-)

Just for storing single (or very few) miniatures I have a suggestion:

Wrap the miniature in the piece of foam from a blister pack

Secure with an elastic band

Slot into one of those (camera) film plastic containers

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